


Equals in Misery

by xantissa



Series: Carnival of Rust [10]
Category: Star Trek: Alternate Original Series (Movies)
Genre: Alternate Ending, Fix-It, Fluff and Angst, Gen
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2013-06-21
Updated: 2013-06-21
Packaged: 2017-12-15 17:24:10
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 831
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/852085
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/xantissa/pseuds/xantissa
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>“It was small and it purred. It was also insistent on not being separated from me so I let it.”</p>
            </blockquote>





	Equals in Misery

Katya was sitting on the bed petting the ball of fluff that followed Khan like a puppy. It didn’t look like any kind of Earth animal she remembered so she assumed it had to be extraterrestrial. It purred whenever it was close to Khan or being patted, its whole body vibrating with the sound. It was about the same size as an average cat and seemed very clean.

 

Petting it, feeling it purr against her side made her calmer, made her sleep when she thought she would never again closer her eyes without nightmares haunting her. What is more, she had caught her leader cuddling the thing just as often. Of course he was always quick to move when she entered the room and found him curled on the bed, reading from a PADD and the creature snuggled into his stomach.

 

“What is it exactly?” She asked finally, the sound of her voice startling her. It made her realize that she barely spoke to anyone since being woken up almost two weeks ago. Khan was sitting in one of the two chairs in the room, reading the PADD again. He did it constantly, teaching himself all the things that changed during the last three hundred years. She knew she should be doing it too, lessening the workload on him but it’s been a struggle just getting up to have a shower, making herself function on the lowest possible setting.

 

Back before Admiral Marcus, in their old lives she wasn’t close to her leader. He was the General, he had his circle of closest officers and she was a lower rank. They interacted a few times, enough for him to know her name. He had officiated her wedding and named her daughter.  Here, now they were equal in their misery but the fact that he had been so patient with her grief, with her depression was stunning to her. Loneliness would have changed him, of course, but this was something more.

 

“I don’t know.”

 

She snapped her gaze from the terribly fluffy creature and up to her leader.

 

“What?” She sputtered because seriously, what?

 

Khan stared at the PADD very, very intently.

 

“Do you know what does it eat?”

 

Silence.

 

“Have you been starving the thing?” She exclaimed, scandalized.

 

He shot her a glare.

 

“No. I put it outside once a day and by the time I find it at my door again I assume it’s been fed somewhere else.”

 

She had to make sure to control her face really well because that... she had no idea what to say about it. Just…

 

_seriously_?

 

“Is it male or female?”

 

Even more silence but there was a very suspicious red hue at the back of his neck.

 

“Do you know anything about this creature at all?” she persisted, fascinated by the way he refused to give her an answer.

 

She thought about the casual, self-assured way he had rolled out of bed the morning after they woke her up, scooped the thing from the floor and all but stuffed it into her arms in his place. There was a gruff kind of gentleness in the way he took care of her complete breakdown. He let her sleep wrapped around him, woke her up when the nightmares became too much, let her stay locked up in his quarter surrounded by his scent and didn’t once force her to talk. He also didn’t let anyone in after her disastrous venture outside that first morning.

 

“For all you know this creature could be some kind of horrific predator only waiting for its chance to eat us both in our sleep.”

 

At that he looked at her, incredulous.

 

“I think that between you and me, we are able to take down one such... _dangerous_... predator.” He said with heavy sarcasm.

 

She snorted softly.

 

“How did you even get it?”

 

Now he looked downright uncomfortable, his gaze on the PADD again.

 

“It was small and it purred. It was also insistent on not being separated from me so I let it.” It was full of dignity and haughtiness and Katya had to bite the inside of her cheek very hard not to smile.

 

“You actually took it home because it followed you.”

 

He shot her a glare and returned to his reading, the tips of his ears burning red.

 

With a final roll of her eyes she stood up and scooped the creature into her arms.

 

“I will go find somebody to tell me what it is and how to take care of it.” She said this in his direction and went to the door. As she punched in the code to unlock it, she could feel his gaze on her back, heavy and weighing. But he didn’t ask if she was up for it and Katya was grateful for it.

 

Nothing would ever be the same but at least she could pretend to be some kind of a facsimile of a living person again.

 

 

The end

16-06-2013

**Author's Note:**

> Okay people don't yell. The Tribble deserved some more loving attantion so here it is *grin*
> 
> We have now reached the end of the already betaed stories. Two more are at my beta. A first make out Jim/Khan story and one that deals with the awakening of the second crew member. After that I will actually have to update slower. 
> 
> Remeber to leave kudos!


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